Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Paris and other French towns to denounce the danger to women’s rights that a victory for the far right would represent.
In the French capital, according to organizers’ estimates, “75,000 people” marched at the request of more than 200 associations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and unions.
In the rest of France, 14,000 protesters were counted in 41 concentrations, according to a police source, cited by Agence France-Presse.
Feminist associations, unions and NGOs denounce the “facade of feminism” of the extreme right, accusations rejected by the National Union (RN, for its acronym in French), which criticizes the “caricatures.”
“When I look at the history of the party, we cannot say that it defends women. We must remember that they were the ones who talked about comforting abortion, who constantly attack ‘Family Planning’ [Planeamento Familiar]”, an association that fights for the right to contraception and abortion, denounced Morgane Legras, a 28-year-old activist and nuclear engineer, during the march in Paris.
Stéphanie, 51, who “never usually speaks,” mobilized in the face of “a real threat.”
The “feminist alert” was symbolically materialized with an alarm and whistles sounded by the protesters, many of them dressed in purple, the emblematic color of feminism.
“Every time the extreme right comes to power somewhere attacks the right to abortion, I don’t see why there would be a French exception,” Planned Parenthood president Sarah Durocher told the media.
Standing out in the polls, RN this week denounced “caricatures” and “lies.” In a video addressed to “all women in France,” its president, Jordan Bardella, accused “the extreme left” on Tuesday of “assuming a monopoly on women’s rights.”
The party is currently led by Jordan Bardella, but maintains the presence of Marine Le Pen, considered the leader of the French extreme right.
A survey published on Friday assigns the National Union between 250 and 300 deputies in the future National Assembly (lower house of the French Parliament), which would represent a scenario between a relative majority and an absolute majority (289 mandates).
Macron’s decision to call early legislative elections after the failure of his party, Renaissance, in the European elections on June 9 against the National Union, which obtained twice as many votes, was criticized even within his political camp.
Source: Observadora
